Furnace-damper regulator.



C. BRUSS.

FURNACE DAMPER REGULATOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29', 1912.

' 1,105,959, Patented Aug. 4, 1914.

l 034,511,1 1 ezwl Wwsw: ,iiu ggm on' D, 7 1 s CARL BBUSS, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

FURNACE-DAMPER REGULATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 4, 1914.

Application filed November 29, 1912. Serial No. 734,144.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL BnUss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of 'isconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnace-Damper Regulators; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the'accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to furnace dampers, and more particularly to that type in which the damper is automatically operated by differences in pressure on its two sides occa sioned by differences in temperature between the inside and the outside of the smoke-flue and provided with means which may be adjustcd to render the damper more or less sensitive in responding to outside atmospheric influences in operation.

It has for its object to provide improved features of construction in such a damper by which an inside valve and an outside valve may be simultaneously moved toward or from an air inlet in the smoke-flue, one valve being moved away from while the other is moved toward said air inlet and at corresponding ranges of movement, so that as the inner valve lessens or increases the draft through the smoke-flue the other valve admits a less or greater volume of air through the air inlet, the two valves thus acting automatically in conjunction to efficiently regulate the draft; also to provide for adjustment of the two valves, one relatively to the other, so as to give to each a corresponding relative movement to or from the air inlet under various adjustments made of the inside valve in setting the latter for or according to the draft through the smoke-flue and chimney as may be due to the force of draft through the chimney either from its construction or according to outside atmospheric influences due to varying air currents dependent upon atmospheric conditions.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing vand such other objects as may hereinafter appear the invention consists in the features hereinafter particularly described and then sought to be clearly defined by the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof and in which: 1

Figure 1 is a side view, partlv in vertical section, illustrating the damper applied to a straight smoke-flue; Fig. 2 a similar view, illustrating the damper applied to an elbowtype of smoke-flue.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing the numeral 1 designates a smoke-flue or pipe formed with an air inlet 2 provided with a seat 3, which may be formed of asbestos or other suitable material, for an outside valve, and also formed with a seat 4 for an inside valve and which may be faced with a ring 5 of asbestos or other suitable material. To one side of the air inlet an oscillating or rotatable member 6 is journaled by a pin or shaft 7 in suitable supports or cars 8, and from this member 6 extends an arm or shank 9 which lies within the smoke-flue and carries at its extremity a valve 10 of sheet metal or other material and secured by screws 11, or other suitable means, to the shank 9, and from the upper portion of the shank 9 ex tends a heel extension 12 designed under some conditions to contact with the upper portion of the smoke-flue so as to limit or stop the swing or sweep of the inner valve toward the chimney end of the smoke-flue, and which heel may if with a cushion 13 of asbestos or other rial to contact with a cushion block mateasbestos or other material secured to the smoke-flue so as to cushion the contact between said parts. The oscillating member 6 also carries an outside valve 15 for the air inlet and which is supported by an arm 16 connected by a pivot 17 to the oscillating member 6 and secured to the adjustment given to the valve by a bolt and thumb nut 18, which bolt passes through a curved slot 19 made in the oscillating member 6. To the pivot or shaft 7 of the oscillating memher 6 there is pivotally connected a rod or lever 20 upon which is mounted so as to be adjustable lengthwise thereto a weight 21 which is secured at its adjustment on the lever by a thumb screw 22 or other suitable means, and this weighted lever is locked to the oscillating member 6 at the desired adjustment by a bolt and thumb nut 23, the bolt passing through a curved slot 21 made in the oscillating member. The ad ustable weight 21 is formed with a scale as illustrated, and a pointer 25 attached to the arm of the outside valve indicates 0n the scale desired be provided the adjustment which has been given to the several parts.

In Fig. 2 of the drawing I have illustrated a damper having the same elements as those described with reference to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the elements in Fig. 2 of the drawing which correspond to like elements in Fig. 1 being identified by the same numerals as those applied to corresponding parts in Fig. 1 of the drawing, while slight differences in the details of some of the elements illustrated in Fig. 2 are provided with distinguishing reference numerals, and in Fig. 2 of the drawing the damper is illustrated as applied to an elbow type of smokeflue 1 In this-figure of the drawing the inside valve 10 is illustrated as provided with a facing 26 of asbestos or similar material which is secured to the valve by bolts 27 and between this facing and the valve are spacing washers 28. The elbow of the smoke-flue is provided with an inside seat 29 for the inside valve and with a seat 30 for the outside Valve, and the outside valve is illustrated with an inside facing 31 of asbestos or similar material and is preferably formed with a peripheral flange 32; and the cushion 13 illustrated in Fig. 1 as applied to the heel 12 of the shank 9 of the valve is omitted from the heel 12 in Fig. 2 as the same is not essential in either form but may be used if so desired. The operative elements of the damper for either form of smoke-flue are the same and the slight additions described for the elbow form are illustrated as preferred additions for the elbow type of smoke-flue. The operation of the damper is precisely the same in both formsof smoke-flues. The portion of the smoke-flue which supports the damper may be of cast metal which is made to cover a corresponding opening made in the smokeflue to receive such part although such part might be made of the same material as the smoke-flue without departing from the features of the invention.

The damper operates as follows: Being attached to the smoke-flue, the lever carrying the weight is adjusted so that the 1nside valve will stand at the angle desired in relation to the longitudinal axis of the smoke-flue to best suit the conditions of the draft through the smoke-flue. That is, if the draft is strong the weighted lever is adjusted so as to bring the inside valve nearer to the air inlet than otherwise and thus a stronger draft is required to swing the valve away from the air Inlet and toward the chimney end of the smoke-flue so as to lessen the area around the inside valve for the escape of the gases and products passing from the furnace. At the same time the outside valve is adjusted relatively to the air inlet by manipulation of the bolt which secures that valve with the oscillating memher 6 so that the outside valve will have the same range of movement toward and from the inlet that the inside valve has away from the inlet, so that as the escape area for the gases through the smokefiue is lessened the area for the inlet of air from the outside to the smoke-flue is correspondingly lessened and thus the two areas are correspondingly changed in the back and forth movement of the two valves. By'admitting air to the smoke-flue from the outside so as to act on one face of the inside valve said valve is rendered more sensitive in its action that it would be if it depended for action on the suction exerted on its under face by the draft through the chimney and smoke-flue alone. This colder air entering from the outside also tends to keep down the escaping gases from the furnace so that they are caused to pass out to the chimney instead of partially escaping through the air inlet of the smoke-flue, and by having the outside valve moved simultaneously with the inside valve and to the same extent the volume of outside air admitted is varied proportionately to the volume or force of the gases passing off through the sinoke-flue, a smaller volume of outside air being required when and as the area for escape of the gases is lessened. This admission of outside air also tends to check the outflow of heated gases from the furnace and thus the waste of heat products by being carried off to the chimney is lessened, and the automatic movement of the outside valve relatively to and with the movement of the inside valve effects a very efficient regulation of draft from the furnace so that a steady fire or combustion is maintained without undue escape and waste of heat roducts. When the inside valve and the outside valve have been adjusted as described the inside valve is rendered very sensitive to changes in outside atmospheric conditions tending to affect the draft, so that if the outside changes are such as to tend to increase the draft from the furnace through the chimney the inside valve at onceresponds to such changes'and cuts off the draft through the smoke-flue more or less according to th va riatiofis in outside atmospheric conditions and at the same time the outside valve correspondingly moves to regulate the volume of in-flow of atmospheric air into the smoke flue, and thus a very, sensitive and efficient action is obtained by cooperation between the two valves. If due to abnormal outside atmospheric conditions the tendency should be to abnormally increase the draft through the smoke-flue so as to move the inside valve to a greater degree than to permit proper draft from the furnace to maintain combustion, the weight may be adjusted outwardly on the lever 20 and thus a s rong rdraft or suction on the inside valve will "be required to move the valve and thus the abnormal conditions may be met without any change in adjustment of the outside valve and the insid valve in relation to each other, the adjustment to Which they have been set for normal conditions remaining unchanged. In the event that the set bolts which secure the outside valve and the inside valve to their normal positions should become accidentally loosened and the adjustmcnt of either one changed, the pointer will indicate on the scale of the weight the change which has taken place and the disarranged parts may then be brought back to their proper positions.

Under the construction described the regulation of draft from the furnace to the chimney through the smoke-flue is automatically controlled and a regular or even combustion of the fuel in the furnace is auto matically maintained notwithstanding the variations in the outside atmospheric conditions which if not compensated for would cause such changes in the combustion in the furnace as to make the heat irregular and under some conditions too great and under others not suificient. By the construction described however this is overcome and at the same time economy of fuel results from the automatic regulation described and without extreme changes in the heating efficiency of the furnace.

Having described my invention and set forth its merits what I claim is 1. In a furnace-damper regulator, the combination with a smoke-flue having an air inlet, of an automatically operating damper comprising an inner valve and an outer' valve arranged relatively to said air inlet and connected one with the other so as to move in unison and having a common axis of rotation, both of said valves being actuated by the draft through the smoke-flue.

2. In a furnace-damper regulator, the combination with a smoke-flue having an air inlet, of an automatically operating damper comprising an inner valve and. an outer valve arranged relatively to said air inlet and connected one with the other to move in unison, and means for adjusting both the inner and the outer valves relatively one to the other and to said air inlet.

3. In a furnace-damper regulator, the combination with a smoke-flue having an air inlet, of an automatically operating damper comprising an inner valve and an outer valve arranged relatively to said air inlet and connected one with the other to move in unison, an oscillating member with which both of said valves are connected'and constituting a support for both valves, and a weighted lever adjustably connected with said oscillating member.

4. In a furnace-damper regulator, the combination with a smoke-flue having an air inlet, of an automatically operating damper comprising an inner valve and an outer valve arranged relatively to said air inlet and connected one with the other to move in unison, a weighted oscillating member with which both of said valves are connected and constituting a support for both valves, and a pointer and index scale to indicate changes in adjustment of either the inner or outer valve.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CARL BRUSS.

Witnesses:

R. G. SEMMANN, OSCAR J. H. SEMMANN- 

